Current Events - At least 55 killed in Iraq suicide blast during restaurant talks

On Thursday morning in northern Iraq, a suicide bomber killed at least 55 people when a the restaurant was holding a talk with Arba and Kurdish politician who were trying to create peace.
This bombing injured 109 others, but the politicians that were present were not seriously hurt.
There hasn't been a motive for the attack, says an Arab official.

They picked the most perfect time, of course. The lunch hour where everyone breaks from their jobs to eat. The bombing occurred at Abdalla Kabab restaurant when people were also celebrating an event.

December 11, 2008
CNN.com

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Current Events - Protesters Clash With Police in Greece

Outside an Athen's courthouse in Greece today, a riot broke out just as two police officers accused over a fatal shooting of a teenager were due to testify. There was a big clash of the riot police and the protesters outside this Greek parliament building. Police were seen wearing body armor and holding riot shield to help stop the protesters; officials had to fire tear gas at the protesters to stop them, but not to harm them.
However, this incident is not only occurring outside this particular building, but many other protests occurred all around Athens after the death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos during these 4 days. Alexandros was killed by a ricochet warning shot fired by a police officer. Thousands came to his funeral while another ten thousand protested on parliament.

Because of these riots banks, schools, and even hospitals were closed on Wednesday. Roads were closed, and buses and the subway were shut down. Also, many flights were canceled.

I don't really think that the people should act like this. Some many have been injured because of the riots. I don't think Alexandros Grigoropoulos would have wanted that on his head while resting in peace. They shouldn't shut down roads and close hospitals. What if there was a major crisis and many people were injured. It takes time to re-open the roads and have the hospitals up and running again.

December 10, 2008
CNN.com

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Hanging Fire - Poem Analysis

The poem Hanging Fire is about a boy being neglected and the troubles he faces. It can be about any boy, depending on the reader. It can be a boy living in New York and goes to school or in poverty in Africa. The poem is made to show that there are many perspectives of what kind of boy this is because its very vague.

The speaker is a boy. His identity shows that he faces many problems like having the wear braces, living in a dirty place, and not being picked for the Math team. He's afraid of having too little time and whether he was going to die very soon. With addition with all his worries and troubles, he is being neglected by his mother who is always "in the bedroom with the door closed".

The poem is written in stanzas and always ends with two lines:

"and momma's in the bedroom
with the door closed."

There are 11 lines in the first stanza and 12 lines in the second and third stanza.

This poem doesn't rhyme. There are no rhyming words in their whole poem. The two lines that end off every stanza (see above) sort of conclude each stanza, signifying that the paragraph has ended. The poem has a rhythm with those two lines at the end.

The poem has a lot of imagery -almost in every sentence. In lines 6 to 7, I can picture a young boy with dirty and ashy knees from living in the streets. I can also see a bedroom door closed whenever I read the last two lines of a stanza, showing the mom's door closed and keeping him from approaching her. He is still in an empty small room when I read line 14 and I also hear sad songs when I read line 15 to 16, like it was at his funeral. He's now wearing braces when I read line 30 and only having one set of clothes. As the poem dies out, I see the boy standing outside a door, supposedly to be the mother's bedroom door; as if she didn't want to care about him.

Education - What is it?

Education is the process of learning new skills and developing the knowledge that we have; applying it to different situations whether formal or informal.
Education is important. People may have the skills to do simple things like get food and trying to earn money. But using those simple everyday activities, they can achieve so much more. They will know how to earn more money through spending wisely and knowing how to get more money. They can get a job and support their family. They will learn from their mistakes quicker and learn how to avoid them.

Current Events

Shuttle Endeavour lands at California air base

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After a two week mission in space and several delays, the American space shuttle, Endeavour, finally lands in California's Edwards Air Force Base instead of the Kennedy Space Center. The weather in Florida had been bad with the wind, rain, and thunderstorms 30 miles from the Kennedy Space Center and forced the space shuttle to land at an Air Force Base in California.
The mission to the International Space Station brought important stuff like exercise equipment, sleeping berths, and a pee recycling system. All these equipment was for a project to double the capacity of the people who can stay at station.
There was one incident that occurred while on this mission. When one of the astronauts was on a space walk, a grease gun leaked in her tool bag causing everything inside to be covered in grease lubricant. Then when she was trying to clean the mess in the bag, it floated away. The items and equipment into the tool bag was worth $100,000.

December 1, 2008
CNN.com
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Israel to free 250 Palestinian prisoners

Israel holds more than 9,000 Palenstinian prisoners.
250 Palestinian prisoners in Israel has been approved by the government to be released as a goodwill gesture for a Muslim festival happening next week. This release is meant to strengthen the peace talks that they have been holding with the Palestinian government (Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas) for the past year. All the prisoners that are to be set free are members of the Abbas' Fatah Party.

November 30, 2008
CNN.com